GAMEDAY: Jets vs Canadiens (Game 1)

WINNIPEG -Finally, it's game day.
The Winnipeg Jets begin their best-of-seven second round series with Game 1 tonight against the Montreal Canadiens, and the night will be even more special because there will be fans inside Bell MTS Place for the first time since March 9, 2020.
Those fans will be comprised of 500 fully vaccinated healthcare workers.
"It'll be just so great. It's been so long," said Jets head coach Paul Maurice. "There's definitely an anticipation for what it's going to feel like, really. Just the sense of it, chance of a change, of a return to some kind of normal, we'll take it. It's going to be great."
Their energy inside the building will only add to the excitement the Jets feel as they play their first game since clinching their first round series with the Edmonton Oilers back on May 24.
"To get some health-care workers that have been battling so hard through this pandemic, to get them into the first game of Round 2 is pretty awesome," said Mark Scheifele. "So we're very, very excited to have them in the building."

Maurice said the Jets have their "standard questions on a couple guys" in terms of their availability for tonight's line-up, but also adds the team is in "pretty good shape," so the mind games between the two sides have already begun.

Paul Stastny didn't skate in Tuesday's full practice - Maurice said the 35-year-old veteran of over 1,000 NHL games has a running option in that regard - and also didn't participate in the optional morning skate.
Tuesday's practice, without Stastny skating, had the Jets looking like this:
Connor-Scheifele-Wheeler
Perreault-Dubois-Ehlers
Copp-Lowry-Appleton
Toninato-Thompson-Lewis
Morrissey-DeMelo
Forbort-Pionk
Stanley-Poolman
Winnipeg Jets : Ground Control
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Fly By - June 2, 2021 - WPG vs MTL
As a group, the Jets are expecting a different type of series against the Canadiens than what they faced against the Oilers.
The players used words like "patience" and "grinding" to describe what they anticipate when the puck drops.
Part of that is style of play, the other is the simple fact that the Jets are coming off a nine-day break while the Canadiens played two nights ago in Game 7 against the Toronto Maple Leafs.
"You think you have a feel for what each series is going to look like. In terms of tightness and closeness, they've got overtime wins in theirs and we do too," said Maurice. "These are going to be tight, tight games. Winning the first game in a tight manner, I don't think is going to break the other team's belief that they can win. These are all going be really tight games."

Offence isn't expected to come easily in this series.
At one end of the ice is Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck. The reigning Vezina Trophy winner had a 0.950 save percentage and one shutout in Winnipeg's four-game sweep of the Oilers.
At the other, two-time Vezina Trophy winner Carey Price, who was nearly unbeatable as the Canadiens rallied from 3-1 down in their series against Toronto to a series victory in Game 7. In those final three wins, Price's save percentage was 0.946.
"He made so many big saves to keep them in games, in overtime to keep them alive. So he's definitely - he's the backbone of their team," Scheifele said of Price, before turning his focus to Hellebuyck.
"He's the backbone of our team. He keeps us in games. He's that calming presence back there and we definitely wouldn't be where we are today without him," Scheifele said. "But we definitely want to be good defensively in front of him. We know what Montreal can bring offensively, we've got to be good in front of him, we've got to be willing to make those sacrifices and know that he's going to make those saves for us."
Goaltending is just one aspect of the series that will make offence tough to come by.
Defensively, the Jets were able to keep Edmonton's Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, the league's top two regular season point producers, in check - for the most part - through the four games. Both players finished with four points in the series after being held off the score sheet for the first two games.
Montreal's defence limited Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner, fourth and fifth in points in the regular season, to five and four points - respectively - in the seven-game series.

Former Jet, Ben Chiarot, had a lot to do with that.
"We're pretty familiar with Benny. And Weber too, we've played him, what, eight, nine times this year. We know what we're going to get," said Kyle Connor, who led the Jets with six goals and 10 points against the Canadiens this season.
"We've got to get pucks in behind them and finish our checks every chance we can," Connor said. "It's going to be a long series. We know that they're coming off a pretty tough seven games here, and we have four in six days so we've got to get to these guys as much as we can."
With all the built up energy the Jets have, they know they can use it to their advantage when the puck drops at 6:30 pm CT.
That, on top of the 500 fans in the building, could make for a crazy start to this series.
"We're all excited. We're all ready to get going. We just have to keep it simple early, not try to win the game in the first 10 second of the game," said Scheifele. "We've just got to continue to play our game, continue to find our game as a team and be ready for all the challenges that playoff hockey present."
-- Mitchell Clinton, WinnipegJets.com
Game Notes
The Winnipeg Jets begin their second round series against the Montreal Canadiens tonight at Bell MTS Place.
The Jets swept the Edmonton Oilers in four games in the First Round of the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs. It's the first time in franchise history the Jets have swept a playoff series. This is also the second time in franchise history the Jets have advanced past the first round of the playoffs, joining the 2018 Stanley Cup Playoffs when the Jets advanced to the Western Conference Final.
The Jets won their last three games against the Oilers in overtime. The Jets have won four consecutive playoff overtime games, dating back to the 2019 playoffs. It's the longest active overtime winning streak in the NHL.
Connor Hellebuyck posted a 1.60 goals-against average and 0.950 save percentage in the four wins in the first round. He had a shutout in Game 2 for his third career playoff shutout. He stopped 151 of 159 shots in the series and faced 33 shots or more in each of the four games.
The Jets have won the past three games by one goal, while their 4-1 win in Game 1 against Edmonton was buoyed by two empty-net goals. The Jets went 12-6-3 in one-goal games during the regular season.
READ THE GAME NOTES
READ TUESDAY'S COVERAGE